To meet the demand for wireless data traffic that has increased since commercialization of the 4G communication system, efforts have been made to develop an advanced 5G or an advanced pre-5G communication system. For this reason, the 5G communication system or the pre-5G communication system is also called a beyond-4G network communication system or a post-LTE system. To achieve a high data rate, implementation in an mmWave band (e.g., 60 GHz band) is being considered for the 5G communication system. In the 5G communication system, beamforming, massive MIMO, full dimensional MIMO (FD-MIMO), array antenna, analog beam-forming, and large scale antenna techniques are under discussion to reduce the propagation path loss and increase the propagation distance in the mmWave band. Also, in the 5G communication system, techniques such as evolved small cell, advanced small cell, cloud radio access network (cloud RAN), ultra-dense network, device-to-device (D2D) communication, wireless backhaul, moving network, cooperative communication, coordinated multi-points (CoMP), and interference cancellation have been developed to improve the system network. In the 5G system, hybrid FSK and QAM modulation (FQAM) and sliding window superposition coding (SWSC) as advanced coding modulation (ACM) schemes, and filter bank multi carrier (FBMC), non-orthogonal multiple access (NOMA), and sparse code multiple access (SCMA) as advanced access technologies have also been developed.
The Internet has evolved from the human-centered connectivity network where humans generate and consume information to the Internet of things (IoT) network where information is exchanged and processed between distributed components such as things. The Internet of everything (IoE) technology which is a combination of the IoT technology and the big data processing technology through a connection with a cloud server has emerged. Technology elements such as sensing technology, wired/wireless communication and network infrastructure, service interface technology, and security technology are required for implementation of the IoT, and thus research has recently been focused on connection technologies between things, such as a sensor network, machine to machine (M2M) communication, and machine type communication (MTC). In the IoT environment, intelligent Internet technology (IT) services may be provided, which create a new value for human life by collecting and analyzing data generated between connected things. The IoT may be applied to a variety of fields such as smart homes, smart buildings, smart cities, smart cars or connected cars, smart grids, healthcare, smart appliances, or high-tech medical services through convergences and combinations between the conventional information technology (IT) and various industrial applications.
Accordingly, various attempts have been made to apply the 5G communication system to the IoT network. For example, the sensor network, machine-to-machine (M2M), and machine type communication (MTC) technologies may be implemented by the beamforming, MIMO, and array antenna techniques of the 5G communication technology. The application of a cloud radio access network (cloud RAN) as the above-described big data processing technology may also be considered an example of convergence between the 5G technology and the IoT technology.
A universal integrated circuit card (UICC) refers to a smart card that is inserted and used in a mobile communication terminal or the like, and is also called “UICC card”. The UICC may include an access control module for access to a mobile network operator (MNO)'s network. Examples of the access control module include a universal subscriber identity module (USIM), a subscriber identity module (SIM), and an IP multimedia service identity module (ISIM). The UICC including a USIM is usually called USIM card. Likewise, the UICC including a SIM is also called SIM card.
In the following description of the present disclosure, the meaning of the term “UICC card” as generally used herein may cover the SIM card, the USIM card, the UICC including an ISIM, and the like. That is, the technical description of the UICC card may be generally applied for the USIM card, the ISIM card, or the SIM card in the same way.
The UICC card stores personal information of a mobile communication subscriber, and performs subscriber authentication and traffic security key generation during access to a mobile communication network, thereby achieving safe use of mobile communication networks. Considering at the time of proposing the present disclosure, the UICC card is typically manufactured as a dedicated card for a specific mobile network operator (i.e., MNO) at the request of the corresponding MNO, and may be released in a state where authentication information for access to the corresponding MNO's network, for example, universal subscriber identity module (USIM) application and international mobile subscriber identity (IMSI), a K value, an OPc value, or the like, is previously contained in the card.
Therefore, the manufactured UICC card is delivered to the corresponding MNO, and then the corresponding MNO provides the same to a subscriber. Thereafter, if necessary, the corresponding MNO may perform management of applications in the UICC, including installation, modification, and deletion of the applications, by using the over the air (OTA) technology. The subscriber can use the corresponding MNO's network and application services by inserting the UICC card into his/her own mobile communication terminal, and when replacing the terminal with a new one, can use the authentication information, the mobile communication phone number, the personal phonebook, stored in the UICC card, as they are in the new terminal by taking out the UICC card from the old terminal and inserting the same into the new terminal.
However, the UICC card causes inconvenience to a mobile communication terminal user when he/she is provided with services from other mobile network operators. The mobile communication terminal user is inconvenienced because he/she needs to physically obtain a UICC card provided by a mobile network operator in order to receive services from a corresponding mobile network operator. For example, when a user travels abroad, he/she has to purchase a local UICC card in order to receive local mobile communication services, which causes inconvenience to the user. A roaming service may somewhat reduce the inconvenience, but there is a problem in that the user needs to pay a high rate for the roaming service and cannot receive the service when a contract is not established between mobile communication providers.
This inconvenience may be mostly solved by remotely downloading and installing a SIM module to the UICC card. That is, the SIM module for a mobile communication service to be used may be downloaded to the UICC card at the time desired by a user. It is also possible to download and install a plurality of SIM modules to the UICC card and to selectively use only one of the SIM modules.
The UICC card may be fixed or may not be fixed in a terminal. In particular, the UICC fixed in a terminal is called embedded UICC (eUICC). The eUICC generally means a UICC card that is fixed in a terminal and is capable of remotely downloading a SIM module from a server and selecting the same.
In order to use such an eUICC, a profile must be downloaded and installed in the eUICC. Therefore, there is a need to provide a profile management technique for the eUICC.